USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; from the glacial period to the present time > Part 7
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Six thousand five hundred and thirtty-six Ohio soldiers were killed on the field of battle.
Four thousand six hundred and seventy-four were mortally wounded and died in hospitals.
Thirteen thousand three hundred and fifty- four died of diseases contracted in the service. Thus Ohio lost 84 soldiers out of every 1,000 enlisted men.
While the fathers, sons, brothers and hus- bands were away on the field of battle, the women and infirm men left behind carried on the ordinary business affairs of civil life. More than one-half of the adult male population of Ohio was in the army, and more than one-half of those who remained were unfitted for military service, owing to age or other infirmities. Those who remained at home and made it possible for the army to live, deserve no less credit than those who fought the battles and won the victories. And that young man who resisted the war fever and remained at home, providing for the neces- sary wants of the household, probably made a greater sacrifice than his brother who, on the impulse of the moment, joined a regiment and marched to the front.
While Ohio's sons fought in all the great battles of the civil war, no battle nor important
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skirmish took place within the boundaries of the state, and only once, and then to their sorrow, did Confederate troops invade the state.
John Morgan of Huntsville, Alabama, was one of the bravest and grandest of the Confeder- ate raiders. He was sent north through Ten- nessee and Kentucky to capture Louisville, and had orders not to cross the Ohio river. When he reached the Ohio river he decided to cross and spread fear and destruction throughout In- diana and Ohio. So with 2,300 experienced cav- alrymen he began his famous raid through In- diana and Ohio. He entered Ohio a few miles north of Cincinnati on the 13th day of July, 1863, and took an eastern course, through the counties of Clermont, Brown, Adams, Pike, Jackson, Vinton, Athens, Guernsey, Gallia and into Meigs.
The fear occasioned by the presence of an armed foe caused the people of Ohio to do many ridiculous things. Bridges were sometimes burned where the streams could be easily forded, and often the roads were blockaded after Morgan had passed. But a few days elapsed before the people recovered from their fright and then a well armed militia and national troops soon made it Morgan's chief aim to get out of Ohio again.
The destruction caused by Morgan and his
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band was confined mainly to the plundering of country stores. They took what they wanted but used no reason or judgment, except in the selection of horses. One soldier took a pair of skates while others took a bolt of calico apiece. The calico was tied to the horns of the saddles and then unrolled and left flapping in the wind. Another trooper carried for a number of days a bird-cage containing three canaries.
But Morgan's raid in Ohio was destined to be brief. There was no rest for man or beast. The soldiers, often overcome from lack of sleep, fell from their horses and crawled to the brush there to sleep, and awaken as prisoners of war. The exhausted horses were given in exchange for fresh and stronger ones wherever found, and to avoid the unequal exchange, many of the farm- ers kept their horses concealed in the forests away from the highways.
By the time Morgan reached Portland the militia had him almost surrounded, and two de- tachments of United States cavalry made their appearance, and the gunboats which had been watching on the river opened fire. The fight was brief, and Morgan left 700 of his men behind as prisoners of war, while with the remaining 1200 he fled north and east seeking a new way out of Ohio and the hands of his enemies. Another attempt to cross the river was made by Morgan
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at Buffington Island on the 18th of July. A fight ensued in which Morgan's loss was heavy and flight was his only salvation. Soon the enemy were getting so numerous that every avenue of escape was cut off, and on the 26th of July he surrendered the remainder of his little band near New Lisbon in Columbiana county.
Morgan and his followers were all sent to the Ohio penitentiary at Columbus for safe-keeping, but on November 7th Morgan and six of his men made their escape by means of an air pas- sage which they reached by digging with their table knives.
Having been provided with money these escaped prisoners of war purchased tickets for Cincinnati. All night long they rode on the train constantly fearing that they would be discov- ered. As the train pulled into Cincinnati they set some brakes, and as the train slowed up they dropped off and, making for the Ohio river, they hired a boy to row them across the river where they were free.
Many amusing stories are told of the inci- dents connected with Morgan's raid. One boast- ful coward, seeing Morgan approach, ran to the hog-pen to hide and concealed himself behind a large mother hog which was suckling her young. When discovered by a gallant Southern
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trooper he was asked how he came to be there, and if they all came in the same litter.
Another individual who was a terrible stam- merer had often boasted of what he would do in case Morgan should come. At last Morgan came, and he was ordered to surrender. He held both hands high above his head and said, "I-i-i s-s-s-surrendered f-f-f-five m-m-m-minutes a-a-a-ago."
In another instance a Southern sympathizer, known as copperheads, had been relieved of a number of good horses. After Morgan had left, he hitched up a horse to a small wagon and started in pursuit of Morgan. .When he over- took the raiders he was informed that they could not have time to hear his complaints until evening when they camped. As some of the men had lost their horses and were very tired he was asked to let some of the men ride in his wagon. He replied that he could not ride a horse, and in turn was informed that he could walk. After walking a while he complained of his boots hurt- ing his feet, so Morgan ordered them removed and he was compelled to walk along in his stock- ing feet while another man wore his boots.
At night when they camped he was taught to sing a southern song and was compelled to dance to his own music. The raiders would enliven
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the scene by shouting, "Go it, old Yank! Louder." At last the commanding officer or- dered a skinny old horse hitched to his wagon, and giving him three other worn out jades he was allowed to depart.
Chapter XIV
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FARM LIFE IN OHIO
I NDIVIDUALS are products of their respec- tive environments; and it is little wonder
that the early farmer in Ohio, who from necessity withdrew from society, and led a soli- tary life, should, on account of his environment, become queer and eccentric. But such is no longer his lot; his advancement has been most rapid, and to-day, in many localities he sur- passes his city friend in both culture and wisdom.
It needs no argument to prove that the phys- ical, moral and mental condition of the tiller of the soil in all parts of the state, is far in advance of that of the same class in past generations. In no occupation has there been greater develop- ment of labor-saving machinery. The farmer preparing the soil for the receipt of grain by the use of a sulky plow, must of necessity be a higher organism than he who scratched the ground's surface with a crooked stick or even a grubbing hoe. And the rate of development of the man must always be in advance of the de- velopment of the tools used by him, as they are simply an index to the inner man.
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Let us notice then, some of the separate stages of his advancement. When we first made the Ohio farmer's acquaintance, we found him living in a mere hovel, void of all the luxuries of life, and most of its seeming necessities. His rooms, if he had more than one, were small, the floors, frequently made of earth, were bare, the walls were unadorned, the furniture scant and books or means of education unknown.
To-day, his well kept modern home is a pal- ace compared to his former humble abode. The spacious rooms in his present home are as numerous as his family may require or even desire. The floors are carpeted, the walls are covered with attractive paper and adorned by reproductions of grand old paintings made inex- pensive by new-found methods of reproduction. The furniture is abundant and modern; books are numerous, and well stored, and well trained minds are the result. Musical instruments are possessed and used, and the finest mahogany pianos, with a splendid selection of music, are often found in the homes of the Ohio farmers.
In earlier times light was obtained from the burning of cloth in grease, and heat was fur- nished by burning large pieces of wood in huge open fireplaces. Behold what a transformation! To-day, in many of the grander country homes, natural gas is used for illuminating purposes,
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and in localities where it cannot be obtained, artificial gas is produced for that purpose. At a safe distance from the house a tank is built where the gas is generated, and from which it is piped to all parts of the house.
While many of the country homes are still heated by means of stoves and grates, yet the more modern ones have heating plants. These plants are built in the basement and are con- nected with each room, and supply the heat by means of hot air, hot water, or steam.
While the old-fashioned well and spring are still used in many localities, in other vicinities the more prosperous farmers have equipped their homes with complete water works. A large tank is built at a considerable height into which the water is pumped from a well by means of a wind pump or a gasoline engine. The elevation of the tank gives a pressure to the water which is piped to all parts of the house.
The labor-saving machinery used within the home has become very extensive. The sewing machine does the work of numerous hands, and the gowns made are of the latest New York, Paris or London styles.
The laundry work is done by means of im- proved machinery which eliminates most of the physical labor. The dairy is run by improved methods. The cream is separated from the milk
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by a mechanical device, and churned by im- proved machinery.
But outside of the home great reforms have been instituted in the planting and harvesting of crops. In the plowing of the ground is the first decided change. Instead of the little wooden plow drawn by one horse, we see in many locali- ties the magnificent gang-plow drawn by three or even six large horses. These plows turn two broad furrows, and five and even eight acres are often plowed in a day by one man. By means of highly improved drags and disks, constructed from steel, the earth is quickly torn up and a mellow bed is the result. The wheat is planted by means of a drill which has compartments for both fertilizers and grass seed.
In many sections of the country the earlier methods of corn planting are things of the past. The fields are no longer "marked out," and the click of the hand-planter is heard no more. The check-row planter has taken its place, thus doing away with the marking of the fields. By means of this new planter one man with a team can plant ten or more acres in a single day.
But the labor-saving machinery employed in harvesting the crops can scarcely be equalled in any other occupation. The development has been gradual. The time-honored sickle gave place to the cradle; the cradle found a succes-
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sor in the self-rake machine which in turn gave place to the present binder. These binders are drawn by from two to four horses, and are so constructed that they cut the grain, bind it in bundles, and leave the sheaves in bunches ready for shocking.
There has also been an extensive evolution in the method of threshing the grain. The sound of the flail, and the steady tramping of horses and cattle are heard no more in the barn nor on the platform. The bunty, a machine which could thresh out the grain but could not sepa- rate it from the chaff, has given place to the separator which in earlier times was put into action by ten or twelve horses. The horses have, in later years, been replaced by traction engines which pull the machinery along the roads and run it while threshing. The sheaves of grain are thrown into the front of the machine where large knives sever the bands and scatter the grain evenly along the cylinder. The grain is threshed out of the straw and separated from the chaff, and weighed and dropped into bags or wagons.
Vast improvements are also being made in the machinery for harvesting corn. A machine has lately been completed which will cut the corn and shock it. After the corn has been harvested and dried for a few weeks, it is
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husked by a machine somewhat similar in ap- pearance to the thresher. The machine pulls the husks from the ear and elevates the corn into a wagon, while it also shreds the fodder and stores it away in the barn or stacks as the farmer may determine. In the spring another machine is brought into use to shell the corn which is then shipped to market.
The vast quantities of hay consumed, de- manded improvements in the machinery used in harvesting it. Accordingly, mowing machines have been constructed which will cut evenly at any desired height from six to twelve acres per day. If the grass is very thick on the ground a machine, called a tedder, is used to thoroughly scatter the hay in order that it may dry evenly. Another machine is brought into use in raking the hay, which is then conveyed to the barns and lifted into the mows by a harpoon hung on pul- leys, or if stacked in the field it is frequently done by means of machinery.
The prosperous Ohio farmer of to-day is a man of science and a gentleman of culture and leisure. He has learned that results are not produced by chance, and accordingly he puts system into each of his varied kinds of work. He buys, and carefully reads, the latest and best books which treat on the various subjects of farming. And while in earlier times he occa-
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sionally invested in "gold bricks," he has in later years thoroughly learned that "gold bricks" can- not be used in his business. By means of the telephone and the rural delivery of mail, he keeps in touch with the outside world, and is familiar with current events.
But the use of labor-saving machinery is not the only advancement made by the Ohio farmer. He has learned that the vast industry of stock raising is capable of almost unlimited develop- ment. He has learned that the feed consumed by poorly bred stock, would be ample nourish- ment for well bred stock with a value many times as great. Accordingly, a great change gradually took place. The chubby, blocky horse has been disposed of, and in his place is a powerful draft horse or a beautiful fleet- limbed driving horse. The milk cows and beef cattle are no longer crossed. The Jerseys are kept for the dairy, and the larger, lazier breeds for the butcher. A like improvement has taken place in sheep, hogs and other stock, and, as a consequence, to-day, the value of the live stock of Ohio is many times what it was but a few decades back.
The isolation of the Ohio farmer is already a thing of the past. In his modern carriage, with his thoroughbred horse, he drives out in a style that kings would have envied but a few centuries since.
Chapter XV
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OHIO'S PRESIDENTS
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W ITH but one exception, Ohio can claim, either by birth or by citizenship, all the presidents of the United States elected since Lincoln. Each of these presidents won fame and honor serving the nation in the war of the rebellion, thus assuring the public of their patriotism and loyalty.
Ohio was yet unknown when Washington took his seat as the nation's first executive, and her settlements were few when Adams was elected to that same high office; but during the administrations of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, Ohio was admitted to the Union and slowly started on her pioneer way.
The East was a region of wealth and culture, with a vast commerce and numerous factories. The South was a region of wealth and leisure, where the slave toiled that his master might en- joy that "ease and luxury" which vanished with the kingdom of slavery. At the same time Ohio was an undeveloped expanse where the early settler was engaged in a desperate struggle for existence, with the wild animals and Indians.
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It was in the numerous wars with the In- dians that William Henry Harrison, Ohio's first president, won a large amount of fame. He was not only the first presidential candidate from Ohio, but the first from the West, and it was in answer to an eastern jeer that the log cabin became a leading factor in the campaign. The coon skin and barrel of hard cider became party emblems, and log cabins, built on wheels, were drawn by numerous horses in each procession. Though the Ohio people had never known of the wealth and luxury incident to the East, they knew their own strength and were not ashamed of their manner of living. The day that closed the campaign and elected Harrison to the presi- dency was a proud one for Ohio, advancing her as it did to the rank of presidential states.
"But the President pays dearly for the White House." The grand old man who had endured so many hardships on the field of battle could not endure the strain and worry incident to his exalted position. Gradually his strength began to fail, and in a few weeks the nation was called to mourn the death of their Chief Executive.
Twenty-eight years had passed. The Whig party had disintegrated and the Republican party had come into existence. A plain man from one of the states of that Northwest Terri- tory out of which Ohio had been the first to be
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GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT
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OHIO'S PRESIDENTS.
carved, had written the Emancipation Procla- mation and laid down his martyr life. In that hour of doubt and uncertainty, when the hope in Johnson had failed, and grave issues were looming up on every hand, the heart of the peo- ple turned to that man whose victories had begun at Donaldson and ended at Appomattox.
While Ohio had given Grant a birthplace, and while his early life had been moulded in an Ohio home, yet it was his appointment to West Point that made possible his career. What Grant was, the years of war had proven, and the years of unrest following the war, when wounds were yet unhealed and animosities still unforgiven, tested him again. There may have been mistakes in his life; but his sincerity, his honesty and his unswerving loyalty were never doubted, and his life closed rich in the nation's unfailing love.
To the presidential convention of 1876, came the East with a favorite son whose eloquence and charming manner has scarcely ever been surpassed. But in that convention the Repub- licans chose for their standard-bearer, not the Plumed Knight of Maine, but Rutherford B. Hayes, a son of Ohio, who had often honored his native state. He had also honored the na- tion on many hard-fought fields of battle and in the halls of Congress. Three times had he
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been chosen as the state's chief executive and his honor and integrity were never questioned.
When the presidential electors chosen in 1876 met, they failed to choose a president. A commission was then formed consisting of fifteen members, five being senators, five representa- tives and five judges of the Supreme Court. The commission, by a vote of 8 to 7, declared in favor of Hayes, who was inaugurated March 5, 1877.
While the administration of President Hayes was unsatisfactory to the politicians, yet it was a wise and conservative one and met with the hearty approval of the general public. Among the first of his public acts was the withdrawal of the Federal troops from the South, and a restoration of self-government was at once made to the Southern states. The beginning of his administration was marked by distressing busi- ness depression, but the splendid management of the nation's finances, and the resumption of specie payments soon occasioned great commer- cial activity. It was during this administra- tion that the foundations of our present thor- ough civil service reform was laid. Mr. Blaine said of this administration: "It is one of the few and rare cases in our history in which the President entered upon his office with the country depressed and discontented, and left it
RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES.
Courtesy of Ohio Archeological and Historical Society.
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prosperous and happy; in which he found his party broken, divided and on the verge of de- feat, and left it strong, united and vigorous. This is the peculiar felicity of General Hayes' public career."
With the expiration of his term, ex-President Hayes returned to private life at Fremont, Ohio, and spent the remainder of his life in mak- ing educational reforms.
James A. Garfield, Ohio's next gift to the nation, was born November 19th, 1831, at Orange in Cuyahoga county. The log cabin home of his boyhood, in the woods of Orange, stands for the hardships, the privations and the scant advantages of the pioneer boy. His early life was a continuous struggle to support his widowed mother and four children. Garfield never forgot Ohio. As teacher, as member of the State Senate, as citizen, soldier, and as mem- ber of Congress, it was always his greatest pleas- ure to serve her. In return Ohio placed in him her faith and hope. The 19th Congressional District chose him as its representative to suc- ceed Ben. Wade and Joshua R. Giddings, and continued to re-elect him for nine successive terms, when he was called to a higher office.
But Garfield never hunted for office, as he was always the hunted one. It was his luck to hold at the same time three elective offices -
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member of Congress, senator-elect and presi- dent-elect. Thus it was that Ohio, taking the achievements of his past as pledges of his future, looked proudly forward to their fulfillment. But it was not to be. The nation was again called to mourn the death of her president. A funeral dirge resounded across the land and Garfield's name was added to that of Lincoln's on the roll of martyr presidents; one the victim of sectional hate, the other of official greed.
Ohio's claim on Benjamin Harrison is simi- lar to that on Grant, only stronger; for Harri- son was not only of Ohio parentage and birth, but here had his education been secured and his profession gained before he chose another state by adoption. And so it was that Ohio felt a thrill of joy when the second Harrison was added to the list of her presidential sons, and she was proud of his wise and well-ordered ad- ministration of the executive office. His admin- istration was one of growth and development, and it was his pleasure to see six stars added to the flag when North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming en- tered upon the grave duties of statehood.
The importance of the agricultural industry of the country found prompt recognition at his hands, and a new cabinet department was the result. The South American republics were
JAMES A. GARFIELD.
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joined by him into a closer bond of friendship through the Pan-American Congress. It was during his administration that our navy was enlarged and the "white squadron" sent out to patrol the high seas. It was then that a battle ship was launched that was to play an import- ant part in our nation's history, for it was dur- ing Harrison's administration that the prow of the Maine first parted water, the gallant prow that now lies shattered and shapeless in Havana harbor.
There is no president who has not to meet and decide questions both difficult and grave, but no president since Lincoln has been called upon to face issues involving the very life of the nation as has McKinley, Ohio's latest na- tional gift. A loyal son of Ohio, another of the broad-minded children of the Western Reserve, William McKinley, through his long public service, was already widely known as a political leader before his election to the presidency. It was in connection with the "Mckinley Tariff Bill" that he had become famous and "Mckinley and Prosperity" was a phrase which adorned the banners flung to the breezes during his first candidacy. That campaign was a monetary one; gold and silver were the respective party slogans, and currency was the theme of many debates and flights of oratory. The maintenance
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of the public credit was demanded by the peo- ple, and it was steadily looked forward to upon his election.
But the unexpected was to happen. An ex- plosion occurred which shook the country out of its self-absorbed calm. It was the explosion which sent the Maine and her gallant crew to a watery grave. An unlooked for war with a foreign nation was upon us. The president had to bear a burden of responsibility greater than any since the civil war, and he was compelled to consider questions fraught with grave and far- reaching consequences.
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